Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) has sold stakes in its refining business of 20% and 15% respectively to Italy’s Eni and Austria’s OMV. In addition, the three companies will set up a new trading joint venture.

Eni is paying around $3.3 billion and OMV is spending around $2.5 billion to take their shares in the refinery, which has a total capacity of 922,000 bbl/d and an enterprise value of $19.3 billion. ADNOC, which will retain the remaining 65%, estimates proceeds from the sale at $5.8 billion.

For OMV, the deal gives it its first core position outside of Europe, extending its refinery capacity by 40% and its olefin capacity by 10%. The Italian energy group will gain entry to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) downstream sector and increase its global refining capacity by 25%.

With regard to the trading jv, Eni and OMV will again own stakes of 20% and 15% respectively. Once established, the company will be an international exporter of ADNOC Refining’s products, with export volumes equivalent to around 70% of throughput. Physical and derivative trading is expected to begin in 2020.

ADNOC said the partnerships will provide support as it expands its refining and petrochemical operations at Ruwais and secures greater downstream global market share.

“These innovative partnerships will support our ambition of becoming an international downstream leader with the flexibility to respond quickly to shifting market needs and dynamics. They will help enable our objective of unlocking even more value from every barrel of oil we produce,” commented Sultan Ahmed al Jaber, who is CEO of ADNOC as well as the UAE’s minister of state, “Working closely with our partners, we will also deliver further efficiencies across our operations and improve asset and business performance,” he said.

The transactions are expected to close in the third quarter of 2019, subject to the usual conditions and regulatory approvals.